JD Vance told American troops stationed in the UK that it is Donald Trump's mission to "bring peace to Europe once again". The Vice President delivered the message at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on Wednesday, describing the UK-US relationship as a "beautiful alliance".
The speech came after Trump and Vance joined a conference call with Sir Keir Starmer and European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to discuss the Ukraine war. Starmer said Trump's interventions have created a "viable" chance of a ceasefire.
Vance told the troops: "Every time something big happens for the world, every time a great victory is won for freedom and for peace and for prosperity, it is almost always the Brits and the Americans that do it together, and we win every single time we go to war together."
Alliance emphasis after diplomatic talks
Earlier on Wednesday, Vance met Foreign Secretary David Lammy at Chevening. He said they "worked on one of our most important shared security goals in Europe, which is the end of the war between Russia and Ukraine".
The Vice President emphasised military strength as essential for peace. He said: "It is impossible to bring peace anywhere, unless the bad guys are also worried that we've got a hell of a fine air force, and a hell of a fine military, to back up the peace to begin with."
Only the Mirror reports that the ceremonial setting included McDonald's cheeseburger distribution and a Lockheed U-2 spy plane backdrop. Vance's "bad guys" comment remained deliberately ambiguous about which side in the Ukraine conflict he considers adversarial, according to the Mirror.
Previous criticism context
The alliance rhetoric represents a notable shift from Vance's previous criticisms of Europe. Leaked messages from a US Signal group chat showed Vance saying he hated "bailing Europe out".
In February, he criticised the UK over a legal case involving a former serviceman convicted of breaching a safe zone around an abortion clinic for silently praying. Vance said the UK appeared to have seen a "backslide in conscience rights".
The Vice President told troops that when Britain and America "work together, when we fight together", they make it easier to achieve "peace and prosperity all over the world".
Sources used: "PA Media", "Mirror", "GB News", "Independent" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
